Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-02-28
RELIGION INDISPENSABLE
REV. TALMAGE ON THE SWELL
ING OF THE JORDAN.

Circulated as Having Been Delivered
by Him.
BROOKLYN, Feb. 27.--At the Taber-
nacle this morning vast throng rose to
sing the opening doxology:
''Praise God from whom all blessings low."
After a brief exposition of Scripture by
the pastor, the Rev. I. Dewitt Talmage,
DID,, and the singing of hymn, Prot.
Henry Eyre Browne rendered an organ
solo, Sonata No. in d minor, by Guilmant.
The subject of DR.. Talmage's sermon was
''The Swelling Of Jordan" and his text.
jeremiah Kill, 8: ''If thou hast run
with the footmen and they have wearied
thee, then how canst thou contend with
horses2 and If In the land OF peace,
wherein thou trustedst, they wearied
thee, then how wilt thou do in the swell
ing of JOrdanw The eloquent preacher
said:
Not in a petulant but in kindly terms
| must complain that wrong has been ne
me. and the cause of honest journalism, by
| pretended sermon that is going the rounds OF
hundreds of papers with my name appended
! a sermon entitled "Frauds Detected" text
| Numbers, XXXii., %: "But il We will not do
so. behold. We have sinned against the Loru:
| and be sure your sin viii find you out" Not
| one sentence of that pretended sermon did
| preach. If this were the only ofense of the
| kind would not speak OF it. Such fraud is
| not only a wrong to me, but to the gentlemen
who, at these tables. Sabbath by sabbath,
| take accurate report of what is said and done !;
! and is gross wrong TO the two thousand
| newspapers which give every week my SER
| mon in full to their readers. and often at
| great expense to themselves The only fault
| I have to find with the newspaper press of
| his country il. that they :reaJ me too well
| But cannot be made respops BILE for entire
| sermons. not one word of which did preach! !!
| But now turn from personal explanation to
| the more important subject OF the text.
| jeremiah had become impatient with his
| troubles God says to him.: IF you cannot
| stand these small trials and prosecutions.
| what are you going to do when the greater
| trials and prosecutions come? IL you have
| been running a race with footmen and they
| have beaten you, what chance Ia there that
| you will outrun hOrses@ And then the figure
is changed. You know, IN April aud May.
| the Jordan overf1Ows lis banks, and the waters
| rush violently on. sweeping everything before
them. And God says TO the prophet: If
| you sre overcome with smaller trials and
veXatons, which have assaulted you. what
| will YOU do when the trials and annoyance
and prosecutions OF life come in freshet?"
| IF in the land OF peace wherein thou
! trustedst, they wearied thee. then how wilt
| thou do in the swelling OF Jordan"
L propose, If God will help me, in very
| practical way to asx-lf 4. is such a difficult
|
Jesus Christ, when things are comparstively
| smooth, what will we do without Christ amid
| the Overpouring misfortunes aud disasters of
life that may come upon Us? If troubles, slow
| as footmen, surpass us, what Will we do when
| they take the feet of horses? andlf now IN our
| lifetime we are beaten back and submerged
| of sorrows because we have not the religion
| of Jesus to comfort lis, what will we do when
we stand in death, and we feel all around
| about us "the swelling of JordanP The
| fact that you have come here, my
| brother, my sister, shows that you
| have some things you believe in common with
| myself. You believe that there a God.
| There is not an Atheist in all this house.
| DO not believe there ever was a real Atheist
| in all the world. Napoleon was on a ships
| deck bound for Egypt 1t was bright starry
| night, and he paced the deck, thinking of
| the great affairs of the State and of battle, he
| Heard two men on the deck in conversation
| about God: one saying there was God aud
| The other saving there was none. Napoleon
| stopped and looked up al the starry heavens,
| and then he turned to these men in conversa-
| ton, and said: Gentlemen, | heard one of
you say there ls no God; If there is no God
| will you please to tell me who m ade all that?"
| Ave, If you had not been persuaded OF IL be-
! fore, you are persuaded OF 1t now; for the
| shin ng heavens declare the glory of God and
| The earth shows His handiwork. Bat you be-
| lieve more than that; you believe that there
| was a Jesus; you believe that there was
| n Cross; you believe that you have an
immortal sonl; you believe that it must be
| regenerated by the spirit Of God, or you can
never dwell in bliss eternal. think great
many of you will say that you believe 1t is
Important to have the rei giOn of Jesus Christ
| every day Of onr life. to smooth our tempers
| and purify our minds, and hold us imper-
| turbable amid all the annoyance and veXa-
| tiOns OF life. You and | have seen so many men
| tranipled down BY m'sfOrtunes because they
| mad no faith in jesus, and you cay to your p
| elf: ''If they were 50 easily overcome by
The trials of life, what VIII IL ie when greater
misfortunes come upon them-heart breaking
| caamIties. tremendous RriefsW Oh, il we
| have no God TO comfort us when our fortune
goes, and we look upon the grave of our
| children. and our houses are des0late what
will become OF ua? What a sad thing II is 10
| zee men all unhclped of Goa. going out 10
fight gIants of trouble; no closet of prayer in
which to retreat, no promise of mercy "a
1 so9the the soul no rock Of e'uge in which 10
hide from the blast. On, when the swift
coursers OF trouble are brought up, champing
and painting for the race, and the relns are
| thrown upon their necks. and the lathered
nanks at every spring feel the stroke of the
| lash, what can We do on foot with themY How
can we compete with them? IT, having run
| with the footmen. they wearied us, how can
| we contend with horsesg
We have all yielded to temptation. We
| have been surprised afterward that so small
| an lnducement could have decoyed US from
| the right How Insignificant temptation
| has sometimes captured our soul! And If
| that is so, my dear br lther, what will it be
when we come to stand Ia the presence of
temptation tnat Frustrated David, and "a
| Moses, ana "a l-PltT. anu hDlut VI bIt ullRnl-
! lest men IN all Gods kingdom? Now we are
homer: but suppose we were placed IN some
path oflife, as many Of Gods children have
been. where all the forces Of earth and hell
combine to capture the sor? Without Jesus
we would go down under it. II already we
| have been beaten by lnhtgnificant
| footmen. we would be oistanced
| ten thousand leagues by the
| horses All. ! don't like To hear q may say !:
| II could not commit such sin as that.
| can't understand how a man could be carried
| away like that" You don't know what you
could do II the grace OF God lets you. You
man staggering along the street. thoroughly
embruted in his habits. He said: There
| goes John Bunyan. but for the grace Of Cod"
| / can say when | see one utterly fallen I:
| There goes Dewitt Talmagc. but for the
| grace OF Godw If we have been delivered
from temptation IL is because the strong arm
OF the Lord Almighty has been about
us. and not because we were any better than
| they. Ii Is a great folly TO borrow trouble. II
| we can meet the misfortunes of to-day. we
| will be able to meet the troubles of to-mor-
row. But suppose now. II, through n lack Of
| the religion of Jesus, We are overthrown by
| small sorrows, does not our common sense
teach us that we cannot stand up against
great onesp II we cannot carry pound, can
| we carry q thousand POUNDS? m We are dis
comiited coming into battle with one regi-
| ment, brigade will cut us TO pieces. IL we
| are unit TO cope with one small trial.
won't we be overcome by greater ones2
III the footmen are too much for
us, won't the odds be more fear
fui against us when We contend with horses2
have been delivered. How was IL that Paul
| couid aaV. tsCorrowfut ~ Va FeiOiciu .